All Hallows Eve (on the Horseshoe)

Happy Halloween, folks!

The apex of October has, for at least most of the last decade or so, seemed more like an epilogue than a climax. That obviously has more to do with our own Halloween Party, which every year detracts attention away from the holiday itself by absorbing all of our energies on costume-hunting, party-prepping, and house-cleaning/decorating.

Not that I'm complaining.

Another win for Southern Tier's Halloween beer.

As we've done the last seven years, we rolled in to the Johnson's residence for their annual Trick or Treat the Horseshoe party. The Horseshoe is the nickname given to the neighborhood compromising their street (Sweetbrier), Highbrook Dr., and Westbrier Terrace (the outside outline of the 'horseshoe' shape), and Greenbrier Terrace, Canterbury Dr., and Lawndale Dr. (the inside outline.) It's all self-enclosed, so super safe for trick-or-treaters and their families, and a lot of houses participate in the distribution of candy.

Not nearly as good as we had it back in the 80's and 90's, but definitely a few clicks above the usual.

Erik had a fire going and several chairs set up by the time we got there, with their garage emptied of vehicles to accommodate Courtney's buffet-style table set-up. Like we always do in this group, everyone brought food to pass as well as candy to contribute for the evening, but after a measly two hours of giving it out we still had a crap-load on hand (which is par for the course, honestly - we all buy too much, every damn year.)

This isn't an all-night rager, compared to our party last week, but it's a nice, chill time and super nostalgic seeing all the kids running around in costumes having the time of their lives. We were home and in bed by 11pm or so, and I did my damnedest to help finish off the half-barrel of Miller Lite that we had worked on at my house the week before. . . but we didn't quite do it.

So here's one, last installment of pictures from October, gang - enjoy. . .

Another appearance of the Wild Kratz

I don't know all of these kids, but Julianna is left of Ella, and that's Harper in the Minions shirt.

And the obligatory weird one.

Before all the trick-or-treaters set off for their two-hour odyssey, we were able to get one picture of all of them together in the Johnson's front yard. This took multiple attempts, folks.

Erik set up a TV by the driveway, which was streaming old horror movies from like the 1950s for awhile, before some big football game or something came on, then folks wanted to switch to that.

After I had consumed my required Halloween, fancy beers (I always save a couple for the big night itself), I switched to our trusty keg.

Folks hanging out and snacking in the garage.

The food spread.

Kids eventually trickled in, coming into the house to start the usual sorting and trading process (good to see kids still do this sacred tradition.)

Loading up plates.

Brandon, Holty, and Collier

Womenfolk, probably talking about something super important.

Collier, Tom and Mitch, watching the game (sorta.)

If there's anyone who shouldn't be playing around with a hatchet, it's Holty.

My wife is special needs, don't make fun.

Holty and his wife, Alicia.

Collier and Mitch

As the temperature continued to drop, the fire became more and more popular. By around 10pm most of the folks had taken off (this party is definitely more a 'swing by' for a bit sort of an event, which most people hanging out in the 6pm to 8pm window of trick-or-treating.)

Most of the night looked like this right here.

Selfies in Ella's bedroom.

Hey look, I'm actually in a picture.

Another Halloween in the books. We'll see you guys next year.

- Brian 

Halloween at the Horseshoe

Happy Halloween, Internet!

Alayna got to dress up for her shirt at Taco Bell.

The pinnacle of All Things Fall is now over, and all that remains of this season are the few leaves that are still stubbornly clinging on to branches. After today, it's basically Christmas - the Holiday Pre-Season, as you all know, kicks in around these parts in mid-November (we're not one of those weirdos who starts celebrating November 1st, that's just lame.) No, we'll be spending the next two weeks cleaning up and de-cluttering our house, which still has Halloween crap everywhere from last week's Halloween Party, raking all the leaves up one more time, and mentally preparing ourselves for the greatest time of the year.

So this year found us once again heading on over to the Johnson's place for their annual Halloween Party. A much smaller affair than ours, but, then again, it doesn't need to be a huge blowout: parents and kids are free to Trick or Treat their neighborhood, while they have a ton of food set up in their garage for folks, a fire pit going in their driveway, and folks just hang out and drink beer and pass out candy for a few hours. Like every year we go, we left by 9/9:30pm because Halloween once again fell on a f***ing school night and we all had to work in the morning.

Someone seriously needs to do something about that - make Halloween the last Saturday of the month or something. Nobody wants to do anything the day after Halloween.

Anyway, here's how it went this year, folks - enjoy. . .

Kris brought her up some dinner after her shift started, and also some Halloween Candy. When the other moms found out she was stuck at work on Halloween Night, they also brought up goodie bags with candy and crap in them for her - she was pretty stoked.

Earlier that day at work, with my special ed, ELA, and math teachers, respectively. Staff and students are allowed to dress up, but I never like to go all out at work (after hours of staying in costume, I better have some booze in my system, otherwise it's not super comfortable.) I just grabbed one of our old costume hats from the storage room - that I wore in 2020 and Kris wore in 2022 - and called it good. All day long kids were asking if I was Abraham Lincoln, or a magician, etc. Kids are stupid.

By the time I got home, around 4:30pm or so, Kris had already whipped up a platter of Italian Sliders (we had a lot of leftover buns, meats and cheeses from when we made the same ones at our party last week.) I put together a cooler for the two of us, and grabbed the sliders, a giant bag of leftover jello shots, and a gigantic bag of candy that we picked up at Costco and headed over to the Johnsons, while Kris and Abby would roll in about a half an hour later (opting to walk so Abby could finish getting ready.)

(Kris is still dialing this in.)

I've held on to this one for about three or so years, and finally decided to give it a shot. Holy crap, was it a let-down. I was expecting an imperial Pumpkin ale of some kind, but this tasted just like any other 5% ABV pumpkin beer. Meh, live and learn.

Courtney dressed up this year, but neither Erik, Kris or myself opted to do so. That ship hath sailed. At least until next year's Halloween Party.

Abby and Ella once again donned their Bruno Mars get-ups for Trick or Treating, but Harper ditched her previous Grinch outfit in order to match with Juliana and. . . whatever they were supposed to be.

Four Freshmen, all set for Trick or Treating.

Here's another one of these go-to pose of theirs.

Didn't get as many Trick or Treaters this year as we have in previous years, not sure what the deal is. Can't be on account of the weather, it was like mid-60s and zero rain (despite it drizzling a bit on my drive home, fortunately it blew over.) 

Decent turnout in terms of folks hanging out in the driveway, though. His brother and sister and their families were there, as usual, along with his cousin and her family. Then you had us, the Colliers, Boses, Griffins, Rob (sans fam), Juliana's parents, and the Keyes. Made for a fun evening, to be sure.

Around 8-8:30pm, the Trick or Treaters returned, pillow cases decently filled with candy.

Still doesn't even come close to what we used to be able to score back in the early '90s. We used to completely fill two pillow cases as kids.

Went in to use the bathroom from time to time, and one of the times I did so I found a bunch of the kids scattered about their living room, divvying up their plunder.

Alayna got out of her Taco Bell shift early, and found the older kids hidden away in the Johnson's spare bedroom (or whatever this room is.)

(Not sure what's happening here.)

Go ahead and nap wherever, kid. I can get a beer later I guess.

Hanging out around the fire with some of Erik's extended fam.

This is how teenagers hang out nowadays. Looks super lame.

Rob, Mitch, and Erik's brother, Ryan, hanging out by the food spread in the garage.

Weather started dropping pretty quick once the sun went down. Was probably in the high 40s/low 50s by the time 9pm started creeping up.

Yours Truly with Collier and Mitch.

Kris, Mees and Courtney.

Ella almost pitches Abby off her back while screwing around in the garage.

This can't be good on her gimp knee, but what do I know. . .

The kids show off their years-old, best friend handshake.

We took off around 9:30pm and headed back to the house, putting on an episode of a show before all turning in for the night. As stated before, we all had to get up early for work and school in the morning (well, except for Kris, who has the luxury of never working on Fridays.) Seriously - what kind of society do we live in where we can't even schedule our holidays on days that make frickin' sense? Superbowls and Halloweens have no business falling on a f***ing school night - somebody needs to do something about this.

- Brian